On Friday morning, June 16, 2023, five members of the Burien Planning Commission resigned en masse, as a protest of the removal of Chair Charles Schaefer by the Burien City Council on Thursday night.
By 4 p.m., four more had joined in, making it a total of eight volunteers resigning from Burien advisory boards/commissions, for a total of 10, including Schaefer’s removal.
The most recent resignation came from Planning Commissioner Rebecca Gobeille, who submitted her notice at around 3:30 p.m.
Signing the original resignation letter were these Planning Commissioners:
- Commissioner Rocco DeVito
- Vice-Chair Commissioner August Hahn
- Commissioner Lena Pace
- Commissioner Ryan Davis
- Commissioner Joe Hauser
The three others volunteer members of various City of Burien boards and commissions who resigned are:
- Crystal German – Arts Commission (served as an alternate)
- Kellie Bassen – Parks and Recreation Advisory Board
- Kelsey Vanhee – Burien Airport Committee
“We are grateful for their work and the City of Burien thanks them for their service,” Emily Inlow-Hood, Communications and Public Engagement Manager for the City of Burien told The B-Town Blog. “City staff are discussing next steps for recruitment of new members for the Planning Commission.”
The Planning Commission is one of five advisory boards and one ad-hoc committee for the City of Burien. Appointments are made by the City Council, and terms of service are four years. It is unknown yet as to how or when the city will replace these volunteer commissioners.
“We have lost confidence in our city council’s ability to lead,” reads the resignation letter. “Over the past several months, it has become clear to us that there is a majority on the council, specifically, Mayor Aragon, Deputy Mayor Schilling, and Council Members Matta and Mora, who are unwilling to address issues of affordable housing, homelessness, and poverty in Burien. Instead, they have spent valuable time and resources seeking someone to blame for their lack of action and the missteps of the new city manager.”
The letter also claims that Planning Commission Chair Schaefer fulfilled the council’s “need for a scapegoat, and they removed him from his position last night while still refusing to take action to address the homelessness crisis that impacts Burien as much as any other city in our region/state/country.”
“In addition to being unproductive, this action raises significant concerns for us all about our own constitutional rights as individuals serving our city.”
Of the eight volunteers on the city’s Planning Commission, the sole remaining members after Schaefer’s removal and this mass resignation are Rebecca Gobeille and David Gould (who is an alternate).
Below is full text of the letter, which was emailed to the council as well as Susan McLain on Friday morning, June 16, 2023:
“Dear Burien City Council,
“We, the undersigned, are resigning from the Burien Planning Commission effective immediately.
We have lost confidence in our city council’s ability to lead. Over the past several months, it has become clear to us that there is a majority on the council, specifically, Mayor Aragon, Deputy Mayor Schilling, and Council Members Matta and Mora, who are unwilling to address issues of affordable housing, homelessness, and poverty in Burien. Instead, they have spent valuable time and resources seeking someone to blame for their lack of action and the missteps of the new city manager. Planning Commission Chair Charles Schaefer fulfilled their need for a scapegoat, and they removed him from his position last night while still refusing to take action to address the homelessness crisis that impacts Burien as much as any other city in our region/state/country. In addition to being unproductive, this action raises significant concerns for us all about our own constitutional rights as individuals serving our city.
“Sincerely,
Commissioner Rocco DeVito
Vice-Chair Commissioner August Hahn
Commissioner Lena Pace
Commissioner Ryan Davis
Commissioner Joe Hauser“
The post UPDATE: Total of 9 commissioners, advisory board members resign en masse in protest of Charles Schaefer’s removal appeared first on The B-Town (Burien) Blog.
